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OLR Bill Analysis
HB 6657 (as amended by House "A" and "B")*
AN ACT CONCERNING HUMAN TRAFFICKING.
SUMMARY
This bill makes various changes to laws affecting human trafficking
crime and victims. Principally, it:
1. (a) extends vacatur relief by allowing individuals who
committed certain crimes due to being human trafficking
victims to apply to have those convictions vacated and (b)
requires the applicants to notify any victim of the crimes about
the application (see COMMENT) (§ 7);
2. establishes an affirmative defense for a trafficking victim who is
a minor charged with trafficking in persons (§ 3);
3. narrows the elements of the trafficking in persons crime by
including only actions a person commits knowingly (§ 3);
4. broadens the crimes of “sex trafficking,” “patronizing a
prostitute,” and “commercial sexual abuse of a minor” to
include taking these actions in exchange for anything of value,
instead of only for paying a fee, as under current law (§§ 3-5);
5. reduces, from annually to every three years, the required
frequency of the Department of Children and Families (DCF)
refresher training in human trafficking awareness for certain
professions and extends the training requirement to emergency
medical services (EMS) personnel (§ 6);
6. increases, from 27 to 35, the Trafficking in Persons Council’s
membership and requires it, by January 1, 2022, to (a) examine
how traffickers use the internet to groom minors to be trafficked
and exploited and (b) report its findings to the Judiciary 2021HB-06657-R010694-BA.DOCX
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Committee, including recommendations to combat online
grooming (§§ 1 & 8); and
7. allows the court to compel certain witnesses to testify and
produce evidence in delinquency proceedings (§ 2).
The bill also makes technical and conforming changes.
*House Amendment “A” (1) allows certain defendants convicted of
a misdemeanor offense; class C, D, or E felony; or unclassified felony
offense carrying up to a 10-year prison term, to apply for vacatur relief;
(2) gives the court the discretion to vacate those convictions; (3)
requires applicants for relief to notify the victims, rather than the
Office of Victim Services; (4) requires the chief court administrator’s
office to prescribe the notice form; and (5) requires the court to give the
victim a chance to be heard on the application (§ 7).
*House Amendment “B” adds the Trafficking in Persons Council
reporting requirement (§ 8).
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2021, except that the Trafficking in
Persons Council’s membership provision is effective July 1, 2021, and
the reporting provision is effective upon passage.
§ 7 — VACATUR RELIEF FOR T RAFFICKING VICTIMS
Eligibility
Under current law, at any time after a court enters a prostitution
conviction, a class A misdemeanor, the defendant may apply to the
Superior Court to vacate the judgment of conviction on the basis that
his or her participation in the offense resulted from being a victim of
another person’s conduct that constitutes a human trafficking violation
under state or federal law. The bill expands eligibility for this vacatur
relief to include those convicted of any misdemeanor offense; class C,
D, or E felony; or unclassified felony offense carrying up to a 10-year
prison term.
Victim Notice
The bill requires anyone who applies for vacatur relief to notify the 2021HB-06657-R010694-BA.DOCX
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victim of the crime by registered or certified mail about the (1)
application for vacatur relief and (2) victim’s opportunity to be heard
by the court on the application. The Office of the Chief Court
Administrator must prescribe the notice’s form.
Investigation and Hearing
Existing law requires the court, before granting or denying the
application, to give the prosecutor (1) a reasonable opportunity to
investigate the defendant’s claim and (2) an opportunity to be heard
regarding the defendant’s application. The bill requires the court to
also give the victim an opportunity to be heard regarding the
defendant’s application.
Vacate Conviction and Dismiss Charges
Existing law and the bill require the court to vacate a conviction for
prostitution (a class A misdemeanor) if the defendant proves that his
or her participation in the offense was a result of having been a victim
of another person’s conduct that constitutes a human trafficking
violation under state or federal law. (The bill appears to include an
inaccurate statutory reference for the federal trafficking in persons
law.)
The bill also allows the court, at its discretion, to vacate any
judgment of conviction for any misdemeanor offense; class C, D, or E
felony; or unclassified felony offense carrying up to a 10-year prison
term applied for by a human trafficking victim (see COMMENT). As
under existing law, the court must dismiss any charges related to an
offense it vacates.
Under existing law, unchanged by the bill, vacating a judgment of
conviction and dismissal of human trafficking charges does not
constitute grounds for awarding compensation for wrongful arrest,
prosecution, conviction, incarceration, or any other statutory
provision.
§ 3 — AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE FOR TRAFFICKING VICTIM
Under the bill, it is an affirmative defense in any human trafficking 2021HB-06657-R010694-BA.DOCX
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prosecution or delinquency proceeding that the defendant was a minor
(under age 18) and his or her participation in the offense was a result
of having been a victim of another person’s conduct that constitutes
human trafficking.
Under current law, a person is guilty of trafficking in persons when
he or she:
1. uses fraud, coercion, or force (or threat of force) to compel or
induce another person to (a) engage in conduct involving sexual
contact with one or more third persons or (b) provide labor or
services that the other person has a legal right to refrain from
providing;
2. compels or induces a minor (under age 18) to engage in conduct
with one or more third persons involving sexual contact for
which the third person may be charged with a criminal offense;
or
3. commits a sex trafficking act (CGS § 53a-192a).
The bill narrows this crime to include only the above listed actions a
person commits knowingly.
§§ 3-5 — ELEMENTS OF CERTAIN SEX CRIMES
The bill broadens the definition of the crimes of “sex trafficking,”
“patronizing a prostitute,” and “commercial sexual abuse of a minor”
by making it a crime to engage in the following conduct in exchange
for anything of value, instead of only for a fee, as under current law:
1. for sex trafficking: the recruitment, harboring, transportation, or
providing of a person to engage in sexual conduct with another
person;
2. for patronizing a prostitute: paying another person based on an
understanding that in return, the other person or a third person
will engage in sexual conduct with him or her; and
3. for commercial sexual abuse of a minor: (a) paying a minor or 2021HB-06657-R010694-BA.DOCX
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third person as compensation for the minor engaging in sexual
conduct with the person or based on an understanding that in
return for the payment, the minor will engage in sexual conduct
or (b) soliciting or requesting to engage in sexual conduct with a
minor, or someone the person reasonably believes to be a minor,
in return for a fee.
The bill similarly broadens the crimes of patronizing a prostitute
and commercial sexual abuse of a minor to include when they are
committed based on an agreement to exchange anything of value,
instead of an agreement for a fee, as under current law.
§ 6 — HUMAN TRAFFICKING AW ARENESS COURSE
Existing law requires the DCF commissioner, in consultation with
the commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, to
develop an initial and refresher training program to accurately and
promptly identify and report suspected human trafficking. The bill
reduces, from annually to every three years, the frequency with which
DCF must offer the refresher training.
The bill also extends the training requirement to EMS personnel
who have contact with patients. Existing law already requires the
following professionals to complete the training: law enforcement
personnel; judges, prosecutors, public defenders and certain other
criminal attorneys; hospital emergency room staff who have patient
contact; and local and regional school boards, or a constituent unit,
who have contact with students.
§ 1 — TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS COUNCIL MEMBERSHI P
The bill increases the council’s membership from 27 to 35 by adding
(1) a Superior Court judge, appointed by the chief court administrator;
(2) a state’s attorney, appointed by the chief state’s attorney; (3) a
public defender, appointed by the chief public defender; and (4) five
public members.
For the latter, the bill increases (1) from two to three, the public
members appointed by the governor and (2) from one to two, the 2021HB-06657-R010694-BA.DOCX
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public members appointed by each of the Senate and House majority
and minority leaders. Table 1 lists the appointing authority and
required qualifications for these additional five public members.
Table 1: New Public Member Qualifications
Appointing
Authority
Qualifications
The governor One representative of a coalition of children's advocacy
centers and multidisciplinary teams dedicated to serving child
abuse victims and their families
Senate majority
leader
One representative of the Connecticut Coalition to End
Homelessness
House majority
leader
One representative of the Connecticut Criminal Defense
Lawyers Association
Senate minority
leader
One representative of massage therapists
House minority
leader
One representative of an organization that works with adult
trafficking victims
§ 2 — COMPELLING WITNESS T ESTIMONY
By law, if the chief state’s attorney, state’s attorney, or deputy chief
state’s attorney determine that a witness’s testimony or production of
evidence is necessary to the public interest, they may apply to the
court for an order compelling the witness to testify or produce
evidence in certain proceedings. They may do this only if they notify
the witness, after he or she has claimed privilege against self-
incrimination.
Under the bill, these officials may take this action in delinquency
proceedings in addition to grand jury investigations and certain
criminal proceedings, as under existing law (e.g., those involving
violent felonies; class A, B, and C felonies; and certain unclassified
felonies).
COMMENT
Conflicting Provisions Regarding Vacatur Relief
The bill contains conflicting provisions. Under specified conditions, 2021HB-06657-R010694-BA.DOCX
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the bill requires the court to vacate a conviction of prostitution which
is a class A misdemeanor, but simultaneously gives the court
discretion to vacate a conviction of any misdemeanor offense.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Judiciary Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 27 Nay 10 (03/29/2021)